Dear reader,
The news cycle is intensifying ahead of the GE, and every few hours there’s a new development that warrants our attention, and consideration about how and whether to respond. We’re all a bit tired, and a little exhilarated. I’ll keep this short so you can again enjoy our expanded political coverage this week.
- How did two ministers unintentionally “like” a provocative post by Calvin Cheng?
- The tensions brewing in the Malay Muslim community following Cheng’s post
- A timeline in quotes showing greater gender equity in medicine
- Singapore’s assistance to Myanmar following the earthquake
- A short history of the Singer sewing machine in Singapore
- The lucrative Singapore History Prize, now open to more genres
- Cinemas closing
- Grab, SuperApp turned taxi company
And more, in our weekly digest. Read it now.
Essay: “Is Shan a good bad cop?” Those of you who attended our last Jom Cakap with Tay Kheng Soon will recall the conversation about K Shanmugam, the “bad cop” foil to Lawrence Wong’s “good cop”. Well, we’ve expanded it into a commentary this week, and I’ll just leave you with a little teaser.
“One audience comment gave him pause. Even though Lee was a strong personality, he was always apparently willing to ‘sit down and talk to people who had a different view’; but today’s government is not, this person argued, for it allegedly often uses POFMA to label as lies what’s actually just ‘another point of view’. What did Tay think about the contrast between these two approaches to dialogue?
‘It’s such a complicated issue, I don’t know where to start,’ Tay began, for once without a quick-fire response. He then said that we are living through a transitional moment, which are characteristically ‘confusing’ and ‘internally contradicting’. He was referring to the handover of power from the so-called 3G (third generation) of leaders in the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) to the 4G, led by Lawrence Wong, prime minister. ‘In any kind of political system there is always the good cop and the bad cop. I think Lawrence Wong is trying very hard to be a good cop. But if he is to succeed, I think he needs a bad cop who is a bit more subtle.’
Tay had articulated one of the central dilemmas with Wong’s leadership team. Is K Shanmugam, the powerful law and home affairs minister, an asset or a liability to the 4G?”
Read the full piece here.
Jom berani,
Sudhir
Editor-in-chief, Jom
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